Photo 2
oz. load at 600 fps for 87 ft. lbs. of energy, which is surprisingly robust. Shot sizes are 6,7,8 and 9, although my brass cartridges are marked 7.5. Effective range is suggested as 25ft! Beware charging fieldmice!
cloud of smoke, and that was all. The rat glared at us, spat derisively and stalked off in a huff, apparantly unharmed.
Photo 2 shows a variety of ammunition. From left to right are two old cardboard tube cartridges together with a modern brass shell, and a bb cap and cb cap. The latter two were intended for use in salon pistols popular in Europe in the latter half of the 19th century, and these rounds are apparantly still loaded by Fiocchi and RWS, although it is difficult to see the demand for them.
These pistols worked on the Flobert action, if it can be called such. It relied on the inertia of the hammer propelled by the main spring to counteract the the pressure of the cartridge. That took a certain blind leap of faith! It’s a charming idea to hold an informal pistol match for one’s guests in the dining room after dinner, but I can’t see the authorities viewing the idea with much enthusiasm today.
The modern Fiocchi shotshell fires a quarter Photo 3
The gun itself which is market “Le Buffalo
St.Etienne 1885”, I bought about 50 years ago for the princely sum of £7. When I got married it had to be sold together with other goodies. Some years later, when it came up
for sale again, common sense kicked in, and I bought it back - for £7, and this time it’s not escaping!
Apart from being quite useless, it does have a certain charm. Most bolt action No.3s are simple in the extreme, those made by Anschutz and Webley back in the 50s using just the bolt handle to lock the action; little more than a door bolt.
Now we are all used to seeing rear locking lugs (early Smidt Rubins), mid locking lugs (Ruger 77 Mk11) and even one locking lug (Krag Jorgensen). However, the type with which we are most familiar is the convential system of two or more front locking lugs, basically the Mauser action. However, if you turn this idea on its head, you end up with “Le Buffalo”, in which the lugs are on the barrel and the recesses are in the bolt! Weird or what?
There is therefore no receiver as such, but the receiver - if you can call it such - consists of a trigger housing with a plate to which the fore-end is attached by a screw, and a ring into which the barrel slides, and which is attached by two screws.
Photo No. 3 shows the bolt and barrel removed . The idea is not quite so daft as it seems, because it means that it is possible, by changing the bolt and barrel to have several chamberings in one gun. Not quite a 19th century Mauser 66, but the idea is the same. Some of these guns were available as .22 rifles, and possibly as rook rifles, and the one illustrated in the Gun
Target Shooter 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98